Breweries of the World

Why we love it

We love this map because it brings a bold aesthetic to otherwise basic point data. It was designed as a large wall hanging (17 ft or more than 5 m wide!) for a brewery tasting room. Here we see an innovative use of the Dorling cartogram approach, a technique for mapping thematic data. It allows the data to be summed up by country and mapped in an eye-catching, abstract way with beautiful symbology.

Why it works

Bottle tops are scaled as proportional symbols to show the number of breweries per country. This cartogram works because it quickly gives us a sense of the major brewing nations organized by geographical areas and positioned to mimic a world map. Minimal text provides labels and numbers. The bottle tops appear to be strewn across a table, yet are carefully illuminated with a light source from the top left.

Important steps

Geocode locations as addresses

Geocode locations of breweries as addresses to add latitude and longitude that can then be mapped.

Shape your map with manual editing

Create a proportional symbol map; converted symbols to features and reposition with a little manual editing.

Customise bottle top symbols

The bottle top symbols are many layers of symbols (bottle top, flag, text). Several styles were constructed and the Match to Style renderer used to symbolise countries.

Play with the layers

Three layers of actual locations were symbolised with different sizes of dots and transparencies to build up the clusters on the hemisphere maps. The background tabletop is a large graphic added to the layout.

Requirements

Data and software

Data was used with permission from beerme.com. Addresses were downloaded as a text file and geocoded to add latitude and longitude that could then be mapped. The country attribute was used to calculate totals for the cartogram symbol sizing. Software used: ArcGIS Desktop.

Time

Two hours to download and convert the addresses, including checking and verifying accuracy. Three hours to build the cartogram. Symbols take the most time, though many are built from the same primitives and can be applied to the map using data-driven symbolisation.

Tips and tricks

Experiment with scaling

Experiment to make sure the smallest symbol can be seen and the largest does not take over the map. Scaling isn’t linear but the overall effect is still visually engaging.

Try new ways of processing data

Processing data into different forms gives you flexibility to map it in different ways. Locations are used here in the inset rather than the main map. Often the interesting story is revealed by processing data this way.

Be creative

Clients who want maps provoking exploration and conversation give you the opportunity to be creative. Designing highly abstract wall maps is one fun way to stretch your artistic imagination.